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The food heritage foundation at Travel Lebanon event

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The Food Heritage Foundation, in its new project “Establishing a Food Trail in the Higher Shouf and West Bekaa region” supported by USAID through the Lebanon Industry Development Project LIVCD program, was granted the participation in Travel Lebanon event of the Garden Show & Spring Festival during May 27-31, 2014.

Travel Lebanon-FHF3The stand of FHF, in Travel Lebanon, offered a live kitchen where traditional meals were being prepared and served. Specific cooking demonstration sessions where scheduled during the event for participants to learn the recipe and its secrets. Each cooking session was followed by tasting, and then visitors had the chance to buy the meals they loved.

Travel Lebanon-FHF1In parallel to the cooking sessions, producers from different Lebanese regions (Shouf, West and North Bekaa, North and South of Lebanon) had the opportunity to sell their mouneh products. In addition, various traditional methods of mouneh preparation were showcased to the visitors such as chickpea milling, wheat sieving, ayran (yogurt) making using the “darf” (goat skin), zaatar (thyme) and sumac grinding and mixing, thyme distillation etc.

Travel Lebanon-FHF4The set-up of the “kitchen” transported the visitors through time and space and showed them how mouneh and traditional food were and are still prepared in the rural areas of Lebanon, intriguing them to travel across the country and discover more about the hidden gems of the culinary traditions.

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FHF supports Syrian Refugees and their host community in Miniara, Akkar

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The Food Heritage Foundation, in affiliation to the Environment and Sustainable Development Unit at AUB, is supporting a community kitchen in Minyara, Akkar in partnership with the International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC). The project initiated in May 2013 and is ongoing.

The idea behind this project is to link emergency food assistance to the development of host communities. In fact, a pre-existing community kitchen in Minyara was upgraded and women were mobilized and trained to cater healthy traditional food pots to vulnerable refugee families.

Women cooks are both locals, from the host community of Minyara, and Syrians, from the surrounding refugee communities.

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This project offers an income-generating activity to women, while helping to enhance social rehabilitation among host and refugee women. At the same time, the distribution of food pots helped alleviate food insecurity and increase dietary diversity among vulnerable refugee families. The project also contributes to boosting the local economy as raw ingredients are purchased on site.

In January 2014, this outreach has targeted 240 refugee families in Halba and Kousha – Akkar. These families are receiving food pots 3 times per week. Priority is given to families with pregnant / lactating women, elderly and children under 5 years of age.

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Akleh, winner of entrepreneurship incubator Nabad

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On February 27, 2014, FHF’s Akleh Community Kitchen has been announced as one of 15 projects selected by arcenciel’s social entrepreurship program NABAD (http://www.nabad-arcenciel.org/)

The ceremony was held at Hilton – Metropolitan Hotel where Mrs. Mabelle Chedid, FHF’s Executive Director and Mrs. Dominique Anid, FHF’s Health and Nutrition officer received Nabad’s certificate from Mr. Ambassador David Hale.

In line with FHF’s mission to foster rural-urban linkages through the promotion of food heritage, Akleh community kitchen will provide women from different Lebanese regions with income generating activities, by training them on offering cooking classes highlighting their regional cuisines, and on sharing their knowledge and expertise in the field. Women will receive capacity building in food safety and hygiene, and healthy cooking techniques.

Akleh kitchen is based at Zico House, Spears – Hamra.

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Video: Enjoy 10 days in Rural Lebanon

Ministry of Tourism, in cooperation with Lebanon Industry Value Chain Development (LIVCD), a USAID-funded Program, and Beyond Beirut, had launched a rural tourism project in Lebanon, promising to add value to Lebanon’s tourism and create a job market for thousands.

The project will include over a hundred and fifty key players in the field of rural tourism. MTV had spent 10 days in rural areas in Lebanon touring local villages, enjoying sightseeing, local food and meeting locals.

Check the video on top.